Op/Ed

Restore Voting Rights to Those Who Have Paid
Their Debt

Can you imagine facing a debt that you could never
pay off — one that never goes away, regardless of how
many times you try to pay?

Well, unfortunately, for hundreds of thousands of
nonviolent felons across Florida, this is their reality.

When nonviolent offenders break the law, they’re
rightly forced to pay their debt to society through
years in jail, countless dollars worth of fines and
penalties, and the social burden of being labeled a
felon for the rest of their lives.

They broke the law. They paid the price. That should
be the end of it, right?

In our state, nonviolent offenders who have paid
their debt to society are stripped of their voting
rights, and it’s an onerous procedure to get those
rights restored.

Here’s the worst part: Florida’s voter
disenfranchisement isn’t just poor policy, it also
disproportionately affects communities of color and the
poor, many of whom received a felony just for minor
offenses.

As a candidate for Florida chief financial officer,
and as a Floridian and American concerned with the cause
of economic equality and equity, I believe this is a
disgrace — and it needs to stop.

If I am elected as chief financial officer next year,
I would have an active role as a member of the Cabinet
in advocating for policy initiatives that would seek to
correct this fundamental injustice in our current state
laws. And if the Florida Voting Rights Restoration for
Felons Initiative [Initiative #14-01] also gets on the
ballot in the November 2018 election, we will get a head
start in bending that proverbial arc back toward
justice.

We can ensure that all Floridians who have paid their
debt to society are treated fairly.

We can ensure that our great state sets a positive
example to the rest of the country — and to the world —
in combating one of the most fundamental threats to the
health of our democracy.

-----

Jeremy Ring is a former Florida State Senator. Column
courtesy of Politics Florida.

This piece was reprinted by the Columbia County
Observer with permission or license.